The first time that my husband spent Thanksgiving with my family we were all gathered around the dessert table after dinner and my Aunt pulled out a pan of a layered pudding dessert. My husband exclaimed, “The Next Best Thing to Robert Redford! This was my favorite growing up!” We all started laughing because we only knew it as the layered pudding dessert. Not to mention that it was especially funny coming from my husband. A quick search on Google, however, revealed that my husband wasn’t nuts. There is actually a dessert with this name.

So here it is. The recipe that my husband grew up on. This rich, creamy and chocolaty dessert definitely isn’t for the weak. A little bit of the buttery cookie crust topped with vanilla-chocolate pudding and whipped cream goes a long way. The dessert is a crowd-pleaser and it’s simple to make, so it’s great for parties. The original recipe calls for frozen whipped topping but I couldn’t resist using homemade whipped cream.

Pretty good cake. May I suggest some refinements to make this really decadent:
Bottom Layer: No need to bake it. Use a layer of ladyfingers instead. Not the chocolate covered ones, just plain. Dip them briefly in milk with a shot of Grand Marnier, Drambui or Rum in the milk.
Middle Layer: same as recipe above Add one cup of finely ground walnuts or hazelnuts to the mixture. Preferably from a health food store, I haven’t had any nuts from a grocery store which weren’t slightly rancid yet. Big taste difference!
Next layer: Another layer with ladyfingers, as the bottom layer.
Top Layer: same as recipe above, but use REAL pudding, like Dr. Oetker pudding. This may be hard to find, but if you plan a bit ahead, it is well worth it.
Garnish: same as recipe, you may want to add a dusting of icing sugar on top of the chocolate. Icing sugar is easily made by grinding up regular sugar.
Don’t use canned whip cream, make it yourself.
Enjoy, and don’t count the calories, you are not eating this every day!